Rally-goers in Washington D.C. protest to persuade politicians to reject the proposition of the Keystone Pipeline. / AP/Manuel Calce Beneta

Written by

David Jadon

Contributing Writer

With the recent climate change rally on the steps of the White House, it seems fitting to discuss the Keystone Pipeline once again. There really only seems to be one thing that actually concerned them—if the Obama administration approves Keystone, we’ll have a climate disaster just waiting to happen. However, let’s look at this from a rational perspective, and see why we should pass it.

Environmental special interests claim that the pipeline is a catastrophe waiting to happen. However, this just simply isn’t the case. Currently, there are over 180,000 miles of pipeline that transport petroleum crisscrossing the United States—this doesn’t include the approximately 305,000 miles of natural gas pipeline that run all over the United States. Statistically, pipelines are the safest and most reliable form of transportation for petroleum products, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

All spills in excess of five gallons must be reported to the government. Additionally, TransCanada, the company responsible for the construction of the pipeline, has already rerouted the proposed pipeline so it avoids the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska and has offered up a $100 million bond to cover any spill recovery and clean up-which the state’s governor has recently approved and recommended that the pipeline now be built.

But what about climate change? Estimates put Canada’s oil reserves now just behind Saudi Arabia, meaning Canada will not just let it sit in the ground and miss out on such an economic opportunity. If the administration does not approve the project, then Canada will just ship the oil east to China and India, both of whom have an unquenchable thirst to grow their economies.

TransCanada as well as the Canadian prime minister have already signaled that if the pipeline is not built, they will find other markets to sell, meaning the U.S. misses out on a fantastic opportunity and the oil is still drilled and burned.

Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that U.S. oil consumption peaked in 2005, at nearly 21 million barrels a day, and has since declined with projections showing a decline of usage for decades to come.

This means that oil flowing through the pipeline will not contribute to additional consumption, but rather will serve to replace more expensive oil that must be shipped from unstable and unfriendly nations.

Furthermore, analysis from the EIA shows that U.S. carbon emissions are at the lowest point since 1994, but as we have been decreasing our carbon footprint, China and India have done nothing but increase theirs at an increased rate especially in the last few years destroying the assumption that the by setting the example, the U.S. will be able to convince other countries to reduce their footprint as well.

The reality is that the impact on global emissions is not the U.S.’s choice to make—that course will now be determined by the rest of the world—who want to industrialize as quickly as possible.

To put that into perspective, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that the world’s warming predicted to occur between 1990 and 2095 is 2.8 degrees Celsius. Of this, the U.S. is only responsible for about 0.2 degrees, or about seven percent. Meaning whatever the U.S. does—like perhaps approving the Keystone Pipeline-is marginal at best, and will have no significant effect on climate change.

Little argument remains other than the President should approve the project it would fit nicely into his “all of the above energy strategy,” would lead to a billions in economic activity and tax revenue, decrease our reliance on oil from other unstable and unfriendly nations, and help decrease speculation on oil prices.

The key to any suffering economy is to not increase the cost of energy, whether that is through regulation or taxation. Perhaps a better solution is to decrease the cost of energy, rather than hoping that the Canadians, Chinese and Indians will play along and mimic whatever actions we take.